~ Chapter 26: Brother was brother ~
[Cassandra's point of view]
My older brother had two hobbies. One was tailoring and the other was annoying me to no end by trying to get me to wear cute clothes... or rather what HE believed to be 'cute'. Mother too, she loved them and often plotted with big brother to force me to wear them, but I wanted to be like aunty Eliza. She was beautiful, strong, and the way she looked clad in armor was amazing! A true warrior fit to stand on the battlefield just like all those heroes from the books I read.
I was strong too, more than any of the girls of my age. I saw them at that birthday party when I was younger. They were all dumb and annoying, squealing over their dresses and trying to act like their mothers. I couldn't stand them, and as per mother's request, I didn't punch them in the guts for annoying me.
Brother, although he was strong too, he never took me seriously during our spars. It didn't bother me as much as it did in the past. I knew he didn't go all out on me because he was afraid he was going to injure me. Brother cared for me too much to let that happen. I knew this because when I went to complain to mother and aunty about it, this was what they told me.
Unlike me, he loved frilly stuff more than those girls at the party did. Or rather, he had some sort of weird understanding of them. But while I often escaped his attempts at turning me into a dress-up doll, aunty wasn't so lucky.
Those weren't cute clothes, they weren't proper dresses... They were combat nightmares with frills!
For me, the proper 'dress' a woman should wear had to be the thick sturdy battle armor that called out for the heat of the battle. It had to be glorious!
What I hated the most was the fact that despite brother not wearing or wanting to wear his own cute clothes, he constantly tried to make me wear them! I didn't like them! They were not suited for a lovely lady like me! A battle armor with thick plates to protect my vitals was the best thing I could wear, but even the old grandpas who made those types of armor didn't want to make me one. Each and one of them kept saying that I would look cuter in a frilly dress! They were all mad, I tell you! MAD!
I would have made an armor myself, but I wasn't as skilled with my hands as brother was. Hammering all day long in the smithy didn't appeal to me in the slightest. It wasn't fun.
When I mentioned this to brother, he simply shrugged and said it was because I was still a child and had no patience for the fine art of blacksmithing. At that time, his words annoyed me for some reason, so in retaliation, I ripped apart the dress he was working on.
Later that day, mother made me apologize to brother... Even aunty scolded me and told me that what I did was wrong. Brother forgave me already, but... I guess no matter how much I hated cute dresses, I wasn't supposed to ruin the one brother tried so hard to put together.
When we were alone again, I asked him “Brother, why do you want to make dresses?”
“Hm... I guess I like the craft itself more than I expected, but I think what got me started was because I wanted to make one that you would definitely like wearing as well. You may not like dresses, but one day, when you are a full grown adult of age 20 or more, when you will find a man of similar age to you, who managed to survive in a spar with me, who earned astonishing achievements as well as possesses a good personality, you will want to impress him or catch his attention. Even the most rugged and battle-ready warrior out there will simply melt at the sight of you in a cute dress. And you will want to see that side of his. A cute dress that brings out your feminine charm and beauty is the ULTIMATE weapon you can use as a woman. And the most decent one...” he replied, but the last sentence was spoken in a whisper.
I believed in brother's words even if I didn't understand them, so I made a promise to myself to never intentionally ruin another of his creations.
For thinking so much of me, I couldn't help but love my older brother, now if only I could get him to wear what I thought was cute!
The best thing I could do, however, was to read and write stories, but unlike those written by famous authors, I lacked the skill. My stories were... weak. They lacked the energy and vibrant descriptions theirs had. At the very least, brother was right about picking up this hobby. Reading and writing did take my mind off of many things and helped me relax more than I had expected.
Still, I did wish to know just how skilled I was with my sword if I were to battle my brother seriously. I also wanted to know how big of a difference there was between me and his ability in magic. So far, we seemed to be pretty equally matched. The only thing I could surpass him in was the number of Blessings. I had three, and he only had one! I was the winner here!
Easy to guess that what I yearned for was to have my big brother take me on seriously during our spars. I wanted to clash our swords together and let them shed sparks on the training ground. I wanted to slam into each other and see whose strength was greater. I wanted to see him not soften up the moment I got a scratch!
I didn't want to be pampered and wear what he called 'cute' outfits. If I did, I feared I would end up like one of those boring and stupid children we met at that birthday party. All of those little girls giggled in their own make-believe world. The boys tried to show off to each other not with their own achievements but with their parents.
However, there was one thing that truly annoyed me about them. All of those stuck-up adults and children alike looked down on my brother. They kept insulting him behind his back, saying that he was boring, he didn't have any achievements, he wasn't strong looking like a noble should, he was an idiot for talking to the party clown, and so on. Some of their words felt like they were echoing in my head, as if I was listening to their thoughts directly, so it irked me, it annoyed me to no end.
Just like my brother, I had a sensitive hearing, so whenever I heard those stupid little girls talking about him like that, I wanted to run up to them and punch them until their teeth flew out of their mouths. It took a lot of willpower to restrain myself from doing exactly just that. I probably would have done it if mother and aunty Eliza warned me not to. They told us before coming here that we might be subjected to such harsh talks.
I hated those girls and boys with stuck-up attitudes. No one had the right to mock my older brother! He was great! More so than they will ever be! After all, he could spar with me, while the boy who claimed to have started his training barely knew how to hold a sword properly.
So rather than spending time around these so-called 'high class ladies' who always thought they were 'the best', I fled to where the adventurers were and had a nice chat with them about swords, battles, and ways to dismember monsters. They tried to scare me at first, but when I proved I knew a little bit as well, they quickly changed their mind. There were two women in their group as well. They warned me to stay clear of adventurers until I was strong enough to punch them in the guts. They all gave me a lot of useful advice, some of which I heard from aunty Eliza as well.
Back then, because I had yet to start reading and writing, I wasn't able to explain myself properly to the adventurers. I didn't know the right words, so what I said often came out weird, and they had to guess most of the time what I was trying to say.
After I picked up reading and writing, as brother suggested, I was able to talk better. I was able to express myself better, and I even found out that exercising my brain muscle was also fun!
I read a lot more than brother did. I liked reading the stories about heroes, but also of various other things. Mother and father were surprised as well, but there were certain books I wasn't allowed to read because I wasn't old enough, especially father's hidden stash. Mother warned me about it. Father begged me not to read it. Luthecia asked permission to burn it. Brother sighed in disappointment when he heard about it and then tossed his wooden sword at father for not hiding them well enough.
I didn't read those, but I got curious about it... One title I managed to catch a glimpse of was: The tales of the elfin beauty and her dwarf master.
I always wondered what sort of adventures those two had, if they were brave and heroic like the main characters of the other stories I read. When I was older, I planned on reading them too.
Although, me and my brother were equally matched in many things, and I also gained my own hobby to develop, I still yearned for the day when I could compete seriously against brother. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of the things he wanted to do. After all, brother was brother, he couldn't bear the thought of harming his cute little sister even in a sparring match.